Do pawns disregard Einstein?

by Jonathan Speelman
9/19/2021 – A pawn promotion is a huge event in a chess game, as the energy garnered by the pawn advancing up the board is transformed in a most un-Einsteinian way (surely a pawn’s advance doesn’t create that much energy) into serious amounts of matter. Star columnist Jon Speelman looks at overwhelming pawn avalanches, and analyses a game in which Albert Einstein got the better of Robert Oppenheimer. | Pictured: Albert Einstein and Robert Oppenheimer in 1947

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Un-Einsteinian

[Note that Jon Speelman also looks at the content of the article in video format, here embedded at the end of the article.]

I was idly watching a fairly random blitz game recently when one of the players had to underpromote. Of course, he had ‘autopromote’ set and there was a significant pause while he sorted himself out and was in fact in time to complete the underpromotion and win before he was flagged.

Albert EinsteinSince I don’t play bullet (no problem with speed of thought, but not fast enough with a mouse) I choose not to autopromote. This has cost me the occasional blitz game, but it does make online chess seem slightly more like the “real” over the board version, and is in some ways fitting. After all, a pawn promotion is a huge event in a chess game, as the energy garnered by the pawn advancing up the board is transformed in a most un-Einsteinian way (surely a pawn’s advance doesn’t create that much energy) into serious amounts of matter.

A fortnight ago, I looked at some pawn “avalanches” in which a player gave up a considerable amount of material to get a phalanx of passed pawns which overwhelmed the enemy. Readers kindly suggested some more of these, and I’m looking at them today. We’ve also got a chess game by Einstein himself against the “father of the atomic bomb” Robert Oppenheimer. I’ve also looked at a moment from the recent Norway Chess Tournament where while promoting  and beating Magnus Carlsen, Sergey Karjakin had to be very exact.

 
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1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.c3 Be7 7.0-0 0-0 8.Re1 b5 9.Bc2 d5 10.Nbd2 dxe4 11.dxe4 Be6 12.h3 h6 13.Nh2 Nh7 14.Ng4 Bg5 15.Qe2 Qd6 16.Ne3 Rfd8 17.Nf3 Bxe3 18.Qxe3 Qe7 19.Nh2 Nf8 20.Qf3 Rd7 21.Nf1 Nh7 22.Ng3 Rad8 23.Nf5 Qf6 24.g4 Ne7 25.Qg3 Bc4 26.f3 Bd3 27.Bb3 c5 28.Be3 c4 29.Bd1 Ng5 30.h4 Ne6 31.a4 b4 32.cxb4 Nf4 33.Kh1 33.Bxf4 exf4 34.Qxf4 Nxf5 35.gxf5 c3 36.bxc3 Qxc3 33...g5 34.b5 a5 35.Bc5 Nxf5 36.gxf5 Kh7 37.Qg4 37.Rg1 gxh4 38.Qe1 37...gxh4 38.Rg1 h5 39.Qg5 Qxg5 40.Rxg5 f6 41.Rg1 Nh3 42.Re1 Rg8 43.Ra2 Bb1 44.Ra1 Bd3 45.Ra2 Nf4 46.b4 Rc8 47.b6 Rb7 48.Be3 axb4 49.a5 b3
50.Ra3?! A far-from-easy decision - and one that was wrong, since Black's pawns are now too strong. 50.Rb2 Ra8 51.Bxb3 cxb3 52.Rxb3 Ba6 50...b2 51.Ba4 c3 52.Rb3 Ne2 53.Bb5 Bxb5 54.Rxb5 Nd4
55.Bxd4 exd4 The scene is now set for the final battle between White's connected passed pawns and Black's avalanche. 56.a6 Rxb6! 57.Rxb6 d3 58.Rg1 58.Rb7+ Kh8 59.a7 d2 60.Rg1 c2 61.Rb8 c1Q 62.a8Q Qxg1+ 63.Kxg1 d1Q+ 64.Kg2 Qe2+ 65.Kh3 Qxf3+ 66.Kh2 Qg3+ 67.Kh1 b1Q+ or indeed simply 67...Rxb8 68.Rxb1 Rxa8 58...d2 59.Rxf6 Rc7 60.Rfg6
60...d1Q! This deflection gains a decisive tempo. 60...d1Q! 61.Rxd1 c2 Instead 60...c2?? would lead to a draw after 61.R6g5 Kh6 62.Rg6+ Kh7 63.R6g5 Rc6 64.Rg7+ Kh6 65.Rg8 Kh7=
0–1
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
Smyslov,V-Botvinnik,M-0–11941C84URS Absolute-ch15
Gemy,J2371Fier,A25470–12019A0414th American Continental3.9
Gufeld,E-Kavalek,L-0–11962C64WchT U26 fin-A 09th7.2
Kasparov,G2800Karpov,A2730½–½1990C92World Championship 35th-KK54
Albert Einstein-Robert Oppenheimer-1–01933C78Einsten v Oppenheimer
Karjakin,S2758Carlsen,M28551–02021B339th Norway Chess 20215.1

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Jonathan Speelman, born in 1956, studied mathematics but became a professional chess player in 1977. He was a member of the English Olympic team from 1980–2006 and three times British Champion. He played twice in Candidates Tournaments, reaching the semi-final in 1989. He twice seconded a World Championship challenger: Nigel Short and then Viswanathan Anand against Garry Kasparov in London 1993 and New York 1995.

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